Shirshu
by Grumpydrawer
Summary: A One-Shot I wrote in one day, set just after the end of the episode Bato of the Water Tribe. Covers what happens when Zuko tries to dodge paying June her payment for a successful job.


Zuko sighed in aggravation as he watched the Avatar fly away into the sky on his flying bison. He had travelled miles from his ship with a skilled and well equipped, abet rude and disrespect, mercenary and her paralysis inducing beast and yet still the Avatar had evaded him.

The exiled Prince then closed his eyes, one of the few movements he could do whilst under the effects of the shirshu's toxins.

Why did this keep happening to him?

The Avatar was a mere child with only the knowledge of how to bend air and water, with mastery only over the latter. The kid was immature and physically weak, whilst Zuko was mature, physically strong, battle hardened and a master firebender. Ok maybe not quite a master yet, but he was well on his way there! Yet every single encounter between the two of them ended with him defeated and the Avatar escaping!

Why? Better yet how could this keep happening to him?

Zuko signed once more, anger and complaining accomplishes nothing. That is what is uncle is always telling just needed rest, that's all. A quick rest and he would be calm, unparalysed and ready to get back to hunting the Avatar...

* * *

Two Hours Later...

* * *

Zuko was snapped from his grumbling thoughts as a horrendous stench reached his nostrils.

"Ugh." muttered Zuko in disgust, his eyes snapping open.

He soon located the source of the smell. A small pot of herbs being waved in front of him by one of the abbey's nuns, much like how one used smelling salts.

"Ah good, you're awake." said the nun, before stepping away quickly from Zuko.

Within seconds the prince was on his feet, hands raised in a fighting stance.

"We mean you no harm." explained the nun, glaring back at the firebender. "We just want you to leave and cease damaging our abbey."

"It wouldn't have been damaged if you hadn't given the Avatar sanctuary." spat back Zuko, still angry at his most recent failure.

The nun merely turned and walked away from him, her holier than thou attitude angering Zuko further. He then raised his arm, ready to send a fireball shooting her way when he was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm, his Uncle's hand.

"No Zuko." said Uncle Iroh calmly. "The Avatar is long gone, there is no need for more violence."

The angered prince slowly lowered his arm. His uncle was right; there was no need to more violence. That would waste time better spent hunting the Avatar.

It was then that Zuko noticed he and his uncle were alone.

"What happened to the mercenary?" asked Zuko, out of curiosity rather than any concern.

"June? Oh the nuns took her inside to be healed, she had quite the nasty cut down her back." answered Iroh, Zuko unsurprised by the concern in his uncle's voice. He was far too soft. It amazed the prince at times that his uncle had once been a feared and respected general.

"Quite respectful really. Giving medical care to someone who invaded your home and damaged it." continued Iroh as he stroked his beard. "Too bad more people aren't like that these days."

"It's nothing but idiotic weakness on their part." retorted Zuko. "If they had any sense they would have finished us off whilst the mercenary and I were paralysed."

"Hmmm maybe." said Iroh, more to himself than his nephew. "But with have more pressing concerns."

"Like returning to my ship so we can resume pursuing the Avatar." replied Zuko as he stared up at the sky, which had since turned black. He must have been asleep for at least an hour or two before that nun woke him.

"I was thinking more alone the lines of how you are going to pay June for her services." said Iroh calmly, a light smile on his cheerful face at the conversation returning to the huntress.

"Uncle do I have the Avatar captured? No I do not!" shouted Zuko as he clenched his fists in anger causing fire to burst from them, causing several nearby nuns to hurry away in response. "No Avatar means she failed what I hired her to do! Meaning she doesn't deserve a single coin, let alone your weight in gold!"

"Ah but if I remember correctly prince Zuko you asked her to find you the Avatar when you hired her. No one ever said anything about her catching him." defended Uncle Iroh with a cheeky smile, calm in the face of his volatile nephew's outburst.

Zuko merely sighed in response, unable to come up with a retort in response to his uncle.

"Now any ideas as to how we can pay that kind woman for her services?" inquired Iroh as he stroked his beard in thought. Zuko merely smirked in response, a plan popping into his head.

"Is the mercenary still paralysed?" asked Zuko, his tone one of order more than question.

"Yes but I don't see what that has…" began Iroh before Zuko cut his uncle off.

"Good. We don't have to pay her then." said Zuko was a satisfied smirk. "We head out tonight for the coast, if we make haste we'll reach it by noon tomorrow. If the mercenary is healed by then she won't be able to catch us. For without her shirshu she would be too slow, even slower when you consider that she shall have to track the beast down herself."

"Very dishonourable Zuko…but clever." commented Iroh, both disappointed and impressed by his nephew's planning. "But what if June's shirshu comes back of its own accord? It knows our scents already. She'd track us down with ease."

"Then we'll avoid the road and go through the forest." answered Zuko, confident in his plan. "The trees are too thick for her beast to navigate them."

"Again very clever prince Zuko." said Iroh, the prince feeling slight happiness at his uncle's praise. "When do we leave?"

"Now." replied Zuko, not even waiting for a response before he began briskly walking out the courtyard. Intent on making at least a few miles before the bounty hunter awoke.

* * *

The head nun was watching over the abbey's newest patient. The young woman had seemed quite resistant at first, glaring and scowling at her sister nuns as they took her to the medical ward. However once she had calmed down almost instantly once she had entered the ward, seeming relaxed as she was led over to the examination table.

The nun suspected it had something to do with the perfume that filled the room. Certain perfumes had the ability to cause even the most hostile of people to relax and calm down. However this was not one of them.

It smelt of charcoal, one of its principal ingredients, and acted as a sort of disinfectant for the medical ward. Not the kind of perfume which makes one more relaxed, given that it should remind me of injury, pain, illness and other horrible reasons associated with reasons people seeking medical care.

Though come to think of it if the young woman had smelt the perfume often as a child, in a positive circumstance that is, she could have possibly come to associate with her childhood. A time which most look back on happily. Perhaps one of her parent's had been a doctor? Hence smelling the perfume when her parent returned home, the smell becoming associated with the parental figure.

Of course that was purely a guess. The head nun knew nothing of the young beast riding woman who had invaded her abbey with the two firebenders, save that her name was June. Provided that kind old man had told her the correct name.

The nun couldn't help but smile lightly as she looked down at the raven haired woman. She was extremely beautiful; nature had indeed been very kind for her. Yet it was a dangerous, aggressive beauty. It was clear the woman was not a fragile feeble princess, but a strong willed warrior who didn't mess around.

The nun couldn't help but wonder what must have happened to cause the beautiful pale skinned young woman to choose the path of a bounty hunter. Surely a potentially husband could be easily obtained by her?

June's eyes then shot open.

The head nurse stepped back in shock at the sudden movement. Even more shocked when the young woman leapt to her feet with a somersault, a displeased scowl on her face.

"Where am I?" the raven haired woman demanded, her eyes darting around the room.

"You're in the medical ward of the abbey." answered the head nun calmly. "You had a large gash on your back from the falls you took during that fight, we have healed it however."

"Thank you." said the bounty hunter as her tone and features soften, but only for a brief moment before they hardened again. "Where is my whip?" she asked aggressively.

"On the table behind you." answered the head nun, pointing as she did so.

With barely a second pause the raven haired woman turned and grabbed her whip off the small side table it had been resting upon, before storming towards the door without even so much as a glance in the head nun's direction.

Not that the nun minded. She wanted such a hostile aura out of her abbey as soon as possible.

* * *

June stormed out of the medical ward and into the cold night air. Somehow she had thought tracking down the Avatar would have been a hell of a lot easier than it had been. Who knew bald kids could put up such a good fight?

Not that the fight mattered. She had tracked down the Avatar, which was what she had been hired to do. She Nyla had more than earnt their piercing eyes then scanned the courtyard, intent on finding the angry firebending brat who had hired her, arranging payment and being on her way to find Nyla.

But he and his pervy uncle were nowhere to be found.

June scowled and cracked her whip angrily. How dare that brat leave without paying her! Who did he think he was?

Not that this was the first time a client had attempted to not give her payment for a job, thought June as she stormed towards and subsequently through the gates of the abbey. And it'd end the same way as those times too…with the client lying on the ground in pain as she took their possessions as payment.

June then chuckled to herself as she remembered the time an Earth Kingdom commander refused to pay her for a job, purely because she was late with the target by one day. No doubt he was very humiliated when his soldiers found him the next morning…tied up in naught but his underpants outside the very military camp he commanded. No doubt the soldiers got quite a good laugh out of it, a well-deserved one too considering they had treated her respect instead of the usual lustful leers she was used too getting from men.

Hmmm maybe she'd do the same to the angry brat? Leave him lying outside his ship in the same fashion. After all she'd never seen fire nation armour like his before. Could fetch a nice price on the black market.

June then stopped and cracked her whip, the sound echoing through the forest.

"Nyla!" she shouted as she cracked her whip, her tone one of command. "Nyla!"

There was a brief moment of silence, and then a large amount of rustling was audible to her right. The bounty hunter heard an instantly recognizable roar coming from the same direction before her shirshu jumped out of the nearby shrubbery and landed in front of her. The bounty hunter's stance then softened.

"And you still confused Nyla?" asked June, a rare caring tone to her voice as she leant forward to rub the giant beast's snout. Her shirshu let out a low snort in response.

"I know that mean waterbender hurt your nose baby." said June in response as she leant forward to give her mount's neck a light hug, her shirshu letting out a happy sniffling sound as it rubbed back against her adoringly. "But we have a bigger target. That angry brat and his uncle ran off without paying us."

Nyla then let out a snout which was clearly one of annoyance, no doubt at the fact it seemed like the waterbending girl was going to get away with hurting her.

"Don't worry Nyla, we'll track her down later and make her pay for hurting you. Won't we snuffly wuffly?" said June as she rubbed the giant beast's furry neck.

Her shirshu then let out yet another happy sniffling sound as it rubbed back against her, before licking her face adoringly…momentarily forgetting about its toxins.

"Damn it Nyla!" shouted June as she fell to the ground, just before the paralysis began to kick in. And since her shirshu had licked her face the toxins were strongest there, meaning no more speaking for a while. It also meant that the two fire nation men would get an even bigger head start on her. Stupid shirshu!

The huntress then felt Nyla rubbed her snout against her, sniffling in a manner that could only be considered apologetic. June would've smiled if she had been able to, it was hard to stay mad at her snuffly wuffly shirshu.

* * *

Three and a half hours later…

* * *

"Zuko we've been walking for hours now. Can't we have a brief rest?" asked Iroh as he walked alongside his nephew through the thick pine forest, a pleading tone to his voice.

"I've already slept Uncle." replied Zuko calmly as he kept walking at a constant brisk pace. "I have no reason to rest."

"But I have not." said Iroh with a yawn.

Zuko stopped walking then. How could he be so selfish? He'd forced his uncle to keep walking at a quick brisk pace ever since they left the gates of the abbey, completely ignoring the fact that his uncle had been awake since the night before when they hired the mercenary.

"You're right Uncle." said Zuko as he hung his head shamefully . "I'm sorry I was inconsiderate towards you."

"Its fine Zuko." said Iroh before he sat down cross-legged on the soft grassy ground, signing in relaxation. "You can't help being as driven as you are. You're never willing to give up."

That was a phrase Zuko had heard often as a child, from both his father and his sister. He could still remember every single time…

"Give up Zuko. You will never be as good at firebending as your sister."

"Give it up Zuko. You'll never be father's favourite."

"Give up Zuko. You'll never be as good at writing as your sister."

"Give up Zuko. You'll never be as good a leader as your uncle."

"Give up Zuko. Mai would never fall for a guy like you."

"Give up Zuko. You'll never be able to generate lightning like your sister."

"Give up Zuko. You'll never be as loved as Azula."

"Give up Zuko."

"Give up Zuko."

"Give up Zuko."

"Give up."

The prince shoke his head, shaking off the memories. Now was not the time to think about his past failures.

"Though be quick about it Uncle." said Zuko as he lent against a tree. "The more time we spend not walking the more likely that mercenary catches up to us."

It was then that the two men heard a sound that made their hair stand on end.

The familiar crack of a whip.

Zuko's head snapped round to face the way they had come, the direction from which the sound had come from. It took a few seconds but then she came into view. June was swinging from the branches of trees towards them, using her whip as an improvised vine as if she was a female Tarzan.

One word went through Zuko's mind at seeing the bounty hunter rapidly close the distance between them.

Damn.

* * *

June landed in front of the two firebenders with the ease and grace of a cat, barely making a sound. She glared at them as she stood up to her full height, whip ready in hand. Admittedly it wasn't as intimidating as if she had had Nyla with her, but the shirshu had been too big to fit through the densely packed forest. Meaning that June had to tell Nyla whilst you dealt with the fire nation brat by herself.

"You left without giving me my payment." said June coldly as she glared at her client, cracking her whip after doing so.

"We did? Oh how irresponsible of us." said Iroh as if he had genuinely forgot to pay her. "Let me just find your payment."

But June could see he was lying, she'd dealt with plenty of clients trying the old "Sorry we forgot" routine before.

"You didn't capture the Avatar." said Zuko angrily. "No Avatar. No payment."

"You didn't hire me to catch him. You hired me to track him down!" shouted June angrily, gripping her whip's handle so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

"I thought the word track implies capture in your bounty business." replied Zuko angrily, his fists clenched.

"If I remember you said, and I quote: I need you to find someone." said June, doing a mocking attempt at imitating Zuko's angry voice as she quoted him. Which much to her pleasure angered the brat further. "And I found the Avatar." continued June, cracking her whip once per word.

"She's right you know Zuko." said Iroh, momentarily surprising June. She'd expected the old man to take the kid's side.

Then again she hadn't forgotten what he'd done when she had been paralysed. Or how he'd ran over in concern when she had been knocked hard against one of the abbey's walls. No doubt he was just trying to cozy up to her again and win favour.

Why was it that the men who showed an interest in her always have to be the type who couldn't take a hint when she didn't like them?

"Doesn't matter." said Zuko, before he turned and began walking away from June. "We have nothing to pay her with anyway."

That does it! First he'd lied about payment. Now the brat was talking as if she wasn't even there.

June leapt into the air and swung ahead of the brat with the aid of her whip, landing in front of him and subsequently blocking his path through the forest.

"Let me put this simply for you." said June as she grabbed the firebending brat by his neck and pulled his face close to her's. She then spoke slowly and angrily. "You are going to pay me. Or I am going to take my payment by force. Got it brat?"

June then shoved him backwards, releasing his neck as she did so and smirking at how the brat stumbled. That and the surprised look on his face. Looked like Mr. Spoilt was not used to be treated roughly.

"How dare you!" shouted the angry brat back at her. "Do you know how I am?"

"No but I can make a guess. Mr. Spoilt? Mr. Angry? Mr. Got his panties in a twist?" asked June in bemusement, smirking as she did so.

"I am Prince Zuko! Son of the Fire Lord! How dare you, a common Earth Kingdom peasant insult me!" shouted Zuko as his right fist flew out to his side. From it a huge stream of fire flew into a nearby tree, setting it instantly ablaze in a ball of fire. "Move aside or you'll very quickly be resembling that tree!"

June took a step back. She wouldn't admit it, but she was intimidated by the display of anger fuelled power and the brutality she had been threatened with.

Of course June realised she should had expected it.

She knew the stories. No one ever quite knew the reason why but for some reason the Fire Lord and his son had an Agni Kai, during which the Fire Lord burnt a glowing red scar onto his son's face. The prince had been banished from the Fire Nation, forbidden to return unless he captured the Avatar. Given only a small scout ship, a skeleton crew and his uncle, the infamous General Iroh, to aid him in his search. Not that it would help since it was impossible task. The Avatar hadn't been seen in over a hundred years. And yet the prince still searched for the Avatar, never ceasing in his search. Villages were raided and temples were razed in his search, yet all failed to draw out the Avatar. Anyone, soldier or not, who got in the way of his search was cut down in a fit of rage. The prince was doomed to sail and roam the Earth, constant searching yet never finding his goal. Never finding his ticket back home. The ticket back to his throne, country and family.

And now the Avatar had returned.

And she had got in the way of his search.

How had she been so stupid? The scar. The anger. The spoilt and above thou attitude. The obsessiveness of how often he'd ask how far the Avatar was when they had been hunting him. The signs had been there all alone. She had been traveling with the very same banished prince of the stories!

And now Prince Zuko was standing before her.

Correction and now an angry Prince Zuko was standing before her. An angry Prince Zuko who had just threatened to turn her into a burning corpse.

June began raising her whip to strike, but stopped herself. Sure she'd beaten firebenders before, but all those times she'd had Nyla with her. The firebenders also hadn't been infuriated either. And an angry firebender was a powerful firebender. Since they got their energy from their anger, fury and hatred.

Or so she'd been told. Not that she was willing to find out if that were true or not.

So, after swallowing her pride, June stepped aside.

The prince stormed past her, not even glancing in her direction.

"Come on Uncle. We're leaving." was all he said as he walked off further into the forest. The only sound left the crackle of the burning tree, the only indicator of the prince's angered outburst.

"I better hurry. Zuko isn't one to wait around." said Iroh, causing June to snap round to face the old man. If the stories were true this gentle kind old man was the infamous General Iroh, the man who laid siege to the Earth Kingdom capital for a continuous 600 days. Only stopping when his son was killed. Not just a lazy pervy old man like she'd first assumed he was.

"So I can see." replied June, trying to muster some sass but failing. She wouldn't admit it to herself, but she had been scared by Zuko.

For the first time in years she'd had felt real genuine fear for her life.

For the first time in years she felt vulnerable and weak. Two things she hadn't felt since the day her father died.

"But first your payment." said Iroh, taking hold of her hand and dropping a bag of coins into it. The feared general of legends then looked her in the eyes with a happy jokey smile. "Not quite my weight in gold. But I hope it'll do."

And with that the general turned and walked calmly after his nephew, humming a gentle tune as he left the startled bounty hunter behind him.


End file.
